SIMI-backed Popular Front of India is fast becoming a major internal security headache for the Government. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is tracking the outfit, has specific information on its efforts to mobilise Muslims for seeking a â€œstate within stateâ€ to address the communityâ€™s woes.

What has alarmed Government is the outfitâ€™s rapid growth among Muslims and Dalits and its alliances with certain regional parties. â€œThis could make it the biggest internal security threat by 2014 parliamentary polls if its growth is unchecked,â€ top NIA sources said.

The radical outfit recently shifted its headquarters from Kerala to Delhi. It has held a secret meeting recently â€œin a bid to garner support for its separate Muslim state agendaâ€.

The demand for a separate state for the community, sources said, has prompted rattled agencies to step up surveillance on the outfitâ€™s leaders. They did not elaborate on the venue of the secret meet or the leaders who attended it. They said specifics could endanger the moles planted in the outfitâ€™s ranks.

The possibility of PFIâ€™s role in the Israeli diplomat terror attack case was also being looked into. Sources said NIA teams had also fanned out to Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra and Bhatkal and Udupi districts of Karnataka to generate leads, if any, in this regard. These two districts are considered to be hotbeds of SIMI/Indian Mujahideen radicals.

Though NIA has not been formally entrusted with the Israel diplomat terror attack case, the agency is simultaneously carrying out investigations so that it has all the evidence and leads just in case the agency is handed over the probe into the incident at a later stage.

More so, since at the National General Assembly (NGA) of PFI held between January 21 and 22 this year, the outfit had demanded scrapping all ties, including international coordination with Israel. It claimed, â€œIt is after establishing diplomatic ties with Israel that our country has witnessed a series of mysterious terror attacks. The recent decision to open an Israeli consulate in Bangalore is another sign of growing impact of the Zionist state in our policy making.â€

The NGA passed a resolution against Indo-Israel friendship claiming the same to be â€œa very alarming sign for the future of the country (India)â€.

Using vitriolic language against Israel, a Press release issued by the outfit said, â€œIsrael, the number one terrorist state in the world, which openly exhibits and justifies violence against Palestinians for the past six decades, is receiving red-carpet welcome in each front by the UPA Government.â€

As things stand, PFIâ€™s political ambitions too are on display. It has fielded candidates in the UP elections under the banner of Social Democratic Party of India, NIA sources said.

â€œThe outfit overtly claims to work for empowering Muslims and other marginalized communities like the Dalits across the country but has linkages with banned Students Islamic Movement of India. It has also gained expertise in fabrication of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and organising secret camps for imparting training to its cadres in the use of sharp-edged weapons,â€ the sources maintained.

â€œTop IB officials and Kerala police officers have also raised alarm over the activities of the suspect terror group but the Centre is yet to initiate measures to ban the outfit so that its vitriolic campaign and subversive agenda against the state is arrested in time,â€ NIA officials pointed out.

On Batla House encounter in which young but educated terrorists were liquidated in a police encounter, the outfit said, â€œThe Congress party itself seems to be divided on the issue of handing over the Batla House encounter case to the CBI. The Batla House fake encounter case was a horrible instance where innocent Muslim youths were killed in cold blood by the Delhi Police.â€

â€œIt (Batla House encounter) was not just an encounter but also a serious attempt of stereotyping Muslims especially the students. None of the political parties seem to be serious in providing justice to the victims and are only competing with each other in lip service. The NGA demanded the Central Government to take immediate steps for handing over the case to CBI and punish the culprits involved in this inhuman act,â€ the outfit said in a statement.

The NIA is also probing the chopping off of hands of a Kerala-based Christian professor by PFI cadres in 2010 for alleged blasphemy to Islam.

While the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) may not make serious impact in the Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puduchery Assembly elections this month, the exponential rise of the minority-dominated outfit backed by the radical Popular Front of India (PFI), from Kerala to Uttar Pradesh, is making waves in the internal security establishment.

The SDPI intends to fight on 98 seats in Kerala and seven seats in Tamil Nadu. The activities of PFI and its carefully selected affiliates have been a subject of intense review at the highest levels of the government given the fact that its operational nucleus comprises former SIMI leaders and activists.

According to a government paper, starting largely as a Kerala Muslim outfit and successor to National Development Front (NDF), the PFI now has more than 80,000 members and sympathisers, with a countrywide spread.

The paper, that has already been circulated in the PMO, National Security Council Secretariat and the Home Ministry, states that the PFI has a militant core cadre, radical following and a subtly divisive and subversive media organ.

The PFI had come on the national radar after its activists chopped off the palm of a lecturer in Ernakulum district's Newman College on July 4, 2010, for alleged blasphemy in preparation of examination papers.

While this case was handed over to the NIA last month, subsequent police raids at that time on PFI activists had led to the recovery of subversive material.

The paper says that raid on 100-odd PFI establishments had led to recovery of crude explosives, lethal weapons, besides a computer disk containing clips of executions by the al-Qaeda. It says Green Valley Foundation in Mallapuram district provided combat training to PFI cadre under the cover of providing vocational training to the indigent and physically challenged.

The government believes the PFI has close links with the International Fraternity Forum (IFF), which professes to look after interests of expatriate Indians in Gulf countries. Its investigations indicate IFF funds are finding their way to the PFI through alternative money transfer channels, explaining the â€œphenomenalâ€ expansion of the outfit along with its front bodies.

It was in 2006 that the NDF morphed into the PFI and then acquired multi-state dimension by merging with the Karnataka Forum for Dignity and Manitha Neethi Pasarai in Tamil Nadu. The next expansion of the PFI took place during February 13-15, 2009, when Goa's Citizen's Forum, Rajasthan's Community Social and Educational Society, West Bengal's Nagarik Adhikar Suraksha Samiti, Manipur's Lilong Social Forum and Andhra Pradeshâ€™s Association of Social Justice merged into the radical outfit.

At the PFI's national committee meeting in Chennai on February 14, the principal agenda was expansion of the organisation in north and north-eastern states. The meeting was held after the PFI organised a successful rally in Kota, Rajasthan, on January 30, demanding reconstruction of the Babri Masjid and booking all those responsible for its demolition.

The paper estimates that the PFI has now 35,000 activists in Kerala, 26,000 in Karnataka, 8,000 in Tamil Nadu, 15,000 in Rajasthan, 1,500 in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, 1,300 in Uttar Pradesh and another 300 in Manipur.

Making common cause with Dalits, tribals and backwards and joining hands with the Ambedkar Samaj Party, the PFI is currently on a yatra through Uttar Pradesh interiors, which will culminate at Lucknow on April 14.

Govt paper identifies five PFI fronts

Social Democratic Party of India: Launched in New Delhi on July 29, 2009, it is headed by E Abubacker, who was the Kerala Zone president of SIMI in 1982-84. The outfit has independent presence in 16 states with around 60,000 members. It won nine seats in the gram panchayat elections in Karnataka in May 2010. Votary of Muslim reservation, the SDPI opposed the Allahabad High Court verdict in the Babri case and is at loggerheads with Hindutva forces in the south.

All India Imam Council: Formed in Chennai in September 2009, it is chaired by PFI head E M Abdul Rahiman. It advocates the formation of Darul Qaza, Muslim personal law courts.

Campus Front of India: It was formed at a Delhi convention on November 7, 2009, with delegates from Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, UP, Delhi and Manipur attending. The convention derided "Hindu Fascists" and professed the cause of Dalits, Muslims and tribals.

Muslim Relief Network: A PFI NGO based in Kerala, it distributes 100 scholarships each year to deprived Muslim students. It receives subscription from the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah and has links with the World Association of Muslim Youth. The MRN has subsidiary units in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Assam, West Bengal and Delhi.

National Women Front: It was formed on July 27, 2009, with the primary aim of advocating 10 per cent reservation for Muslim women from the backward communities in the proposed Women Reservation Bill.

Kochi National Investigation Agency has arrested a key conspirator in the case relating to chopping of the hand of a college lecturer in 2010.

Tamar Ashraf, was arrested from his house at Muvattupuzha late last night, police sources said.

Ashraf is alleged to have provided funds to the other accused for carrying out the attack.

Police had last year filed chargesheet against 27 activists of the radical outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) accusing them of attempt to murder and other offences in the brutal attack on the lecturer, Prof T J Joseph of Muvattupuzha, whose right hand had been chopped off while he was returning along with his family after a Sunday mass on July 4, 2010.

The barbaric act, which created a national outrage, was to "punish" the lecturer for allegedly preparing a question paper which had references to Prophet Mohammed.

There are a total of 54 accused in the case and 27 of them, against whom non-bailable warrants have been issued, are absconding.

The accused are facing charges under various IPC Sections ranging from 122 (collecting arms with intention of waging war), 124-A (sedition), 307 (attempt to murder) to 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon) and 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion).

Kochi National Investigation Agency has arrested a key conspirator in the case relating to chopping of the hand of a college lecturer in 2010.

Tamar Ashraf, was arrested from his house at Muvattupuzha late last night, police sources said.

Ashraf is alleged to have provided funds to the other accused for carrying out the attack.

Police had last year filed chargesheet against 27 activists of the radical outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) accusing them of attempt to murder and other offences in the brutal attack on the lecturer, Prof T J Joseph of Muvattupuzha, whose right hand had been chopped off while he was returning along with his family after a Sunday mass on July 4, 2010.

The barbaric act, which created a national outrage, was to "punish" the lecturer for allegedly preparing a question paper which had references to Prophet Mohammed.

There are a total of 54 accused in the case and 27 of them, against whom non-bailable warrants have been issued, are absconding.

The accused are facing charges under various IPC Sections ranging from 122 (collecting arms with intention of waging war), 124-A (sedition), 307 (attempt to murder) to 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon) and 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion).

ok which area pfi thinks can be state within state for muslims aahhh hyderbad or central uo or kashmir .another party on simi way.this parties can give a single decent party so that muslims can vote for them . AND shifting base from kerala to delhi ?? is it wise decision they are really stupid

Nothing will happen.....no one will report anything (till they get into our homes).......Sold out minority owned TV channels will project PFI as Gandhian with guns, white doves et al.......NGOs such as Citizen for Justice will proclaim PFI to be the spearhead of 'Aman Ki Asha'......they will become not just the biggest terrorist threat from within but a political force representing muslims on which corrupt con-gress will heavily rely (as seen in the case of iuml)......Non-muslims will be cannon fodder for this blood thirsty ideology ,and traitors within (read: Italians and the coterie) will keep on looting the country and swindle the money into off shore accounts and claim no account details can be revealed due to double- taxation policy (which only con-gress knows how it is an impediments to get the money back)! Meanwhile islamists in India will grow Bolder and wreck havoc on Hindus in specific, riding on the confidence provided by secular con-gress lead by foreigners and ruthless corrupt traitors!

Future due to Islamist does not look very bright - if these people are not contained and empowerment of mullahs by con-gress is not immediately put to a sudden stop!